The royal castle of the Ansellus Kingdom, steeped in ancient history.
In the grandest hall among them.
The floor is adorned with a geometric pattern formed by colorful stones. Ivory pillars rise, and a chandelier made of glass hangs from the arching ceiling.
While usually unused, reserved for showcasing the king’s majesty, today, it is filled with people.
The relationship between the Ansellus Kingdom and the Seongsin Church is reminiscent of the medieval European kingdoms and the Vatican.
Since the regions corresponding to the east of the Skard Rock Desert all believe in the Seongsin Church, it’s not much different from Europe in this context.
There are many differences, such as the existence of wizards powered by magic or swordsmen who can draw sword energy from their blades, but one unique distinction stands out.
Here, the gods have a direct influence.
Warriors or priests recognized by the gods emerge, and miracles descend from the heavens.
In such a world, the power of the Seongsin Church was strong enough that even a king couldn’t act recklessly against it.
So when they condemned the Ansellus Kingdom for harboring an evil god, there was no choice but to bring that evil god forth.
Especially when the god has spoken, it’s as if the rules of the world themselves have declared it.
No creature can live outside the rules of the world.
What happens if you do?
You cease to be a creature.
And what appeared, no longer being a creature, was led in by the soldiers.
At first glance, she looks like a small girl with purple hair. Judging by her appearance, she seems closer to a child than an adult, but her large chest makes one question if she’s truly a little girl.
Aside from that, she’s nothing more than a child with unusually white skin.
There’s neither majesty nor ominousness.
Just a small girl.
Those seeing her for the first time thought so.
Most of the people here had never seen her before. In fact, over 80% were seeing her for the first time.
The attendees were mostly nobles or priests.
The exceptions would be the servants working among them, but even they held positions close to minor nobility.
However, there were not just people from the Ansellus Kingdom present.
They were people from neighboring kingdoms surrounding the Ansellus Kingdom.
The reason why so many nobles and royals from other kingdoms are here is simple.
Just yesterday, the legendary figure Tisah had his funeral.
In other words, they were foreign dignitaries attending a national event.
Originally, they planned to spend the night at the feast held after the funeral and return home after a night’s rest.
But now, a major incident related to the Seongsin Church is unfolding?
They all attended without missing a beat.
Additionally, the lords who had come from the countryside for the funeral were also present.
It was a gathering so significant that all who could come had assembled together.
And there was the outsider.
“Ah, so you’ve come to make excuses. Go ahead,”
as the outsider entered, a brief silence fell, with everyone’s gaze focusing on them in that fleeting moment.
The first to speak was none other than the outsider.
“What excuse could there be, you wicked being! How dare you speak before the Lord of Seongsin!”
Immediately, the paladin, who had been the first to speak, drew his sword and shouted, quickly citing the scriptures of the Seongsin Church to denounce the outsider.
For those who had their faith rooted in the Seongsin Church, the words written in the sacred texts carried substantial persuasive power.
This meant that most of those present began to suspect that the small girl before them was indeed the evil god, considering her pure malice.
In fact, she was pure malice personified.
If warmth is drained, humans break. They cease to be humans and become monsters.
Monsters that kill other living beings to seek warmth.
What’s the difference from killing people?
Moreover, it’s not simply a matter of mindlessly hunting and draining warmth.
She can embed herself in others and take their warmth.
Even that would be disgusting, but this monster ensnares the offspring of those she embeds herself in.
Upon sharing herself, if she dies, she takes everything they possessed.
The outsider mistakenly believes that her contract is maintained through blood, but in reality, it is the contract she made that is the cause.
Depending on one’s interpretation, there’s a cruel potential that she could tear apart the Ansellus Kingdom entirely.
However, the outsider was not aware of that yet.
Without professional research and accumulated knowledge, it’s akin to not knowing the intricate process of digestion after eating.
But the outsider had no intention of doing that in the first place.
Not because the outsider is virtuous, but because such actions would bring greater benefit.
Thus, for greater profit, she wore the mask of hypocrisy. Not taking more than necessary, she honored the contract purely.
In fact, in the case of Yasle, the initial contractor, from a certain perspective, she even took revenge. The royal family of the Ansellus Kingdom, whom Yasle wanted to eliminate, had essentially already fallen.
It wasn’t a contract made with blessings every time, but one promising to fulfill wishes.
Looking at it now, who would think the Ansellus Kingdom still existed? Rather, it is the people whom the outsider blessed now ruling the royal family.
Knowing this, the outsider boldly stood before that person and said:
“If you say that every contract is worthless in the eyes of the gods, then you can boldly declare that. You would be able to do so before all humanity, if you truly can, of course?”
A provocation.
If you are genuinely right, then everyone would accept it.
The paladin quickly surveyed the situation at that remark. Though he may seem rough and thoughtless, he is a paladin.
One trained in the politics of the heretical inquisition.
Such word games wouldn’t work on him.
However, he made one misunderstanding.
He thought the outsider was desperately struggling for survival.
He glanced at the priest beside him.
In fact, priests and paladins divide their roles.
The paladin, wielding a sword and armored, takes radical actions, while the priest mitigates that with diplomatic negotiations, employing the good cop-bad cop technique.
Using violence to instill fear, while pretending to be familiar to extract information or encourage perjury.
Since this is a living space for people, similar techniques had developed here as well.
Anyway, the priest too envisioned the situation from an ordinary person’s perspective. Naturally, he thought that the evil being would struggle for survival.
So he reasoned to take this opportunity to publicize the image of the Seongsin defeating that evil god.
A fatal judgment.
When the priest granted permission, the paladin loudly proclaimed:
“If you say so, I shall judge your sins before all! May the Lord of Seongsin expose all your sins and deliver the deserved punishment upon this wicked being!”
“Now, now, calm down. If you act hastily, you won’t achieve anything in the Ansellus Kingdom, right? They should be given a chance to pay for the sins their ancestors committed.”
Interpreting the priest’s words means:
You prepare the stage. Then, I won’t punish your kingdom.
In an instant, a hero blessed by the gods became a sinner.
Some in the Seongsin Church believed Tisah was a believer but not a member of the congregation. And the fact that such a person was the chosen one didn’t sit well with them.
Thus, they planned to diminish that sanctity and elevate the Seongsin Church further.
This isn’t a bad action. Yet, it was distasteful.
To the people of the Ansellus Kingdom, who take pride in their lineage and the man who built the current kingdom, remarks of disregard arose just slightly.
Reading the expressions of the people, the outsider internally roared with laughter.
To be precise, the memory of the Faded Man, known as the outsider, rolled on the ground laughing.
What the priest had just said was akin to telling a Korean person, “Sejong the Great? It’s just a king, isn’t it?”
However, to outright refute that would mean going against the formidable authority of the Seongsin Church. Instead, the outsider patiently waited for the moment when resentment would surge and sank those thoughts deep.
Meanwhile, the king approached the outsider with a stiff expression.
“So it has come to this.”
And ordered a soldier to prepare the gallows in the square. Upon hearing this, the paladin and priest nodded in delight, and though the people of the Ansellus Kingdom felt uneasy, they decided to watch, believing that they were killing the evil god.
“Yes. People have the freedom to choose their gods. I won’t get angry over that.”
A poisonous blade stirs.
“I’m angry at those who take freedom from humanity.”
In that moment, the gods became the oppressors of humanity’s freedom.
But no one pondered that meaning deeply.
Because it didn’t strike as shocking. It merely seemed to be a plea to not be killed because it was imposed by the Seongsin, something that they didn’t mind.
And from a distance, Hyungkesuni, who was watching that unfold, chuckled at the terrifying outsider’s plea.
Almost 80 years ago.
A monster that had remained silent like a doll for half a year, planning to devour humans, was trembling in fear again.
Just a moment ago it was threatening to kill, now it’s begging humans in a cutesy manner?
Hyungkesuni reflected on herself while thinking this.
It’s an inescapable truth that people always interpret based on their own experiences.
Such visual cues would easily catch the eye of someone who had perpetually run in fear of death.
A monster far more formidable than herself quivering before the gods, begging for life. The very monster that had tormented her.
With a grim satisfaction, Hyungkesuni decided to enjoy this show until the very end.
What kind of face would that outsider show at the moment of death?
And embedded in that thought was a uniquely human perspective so deep that even Hyungkesuni found it normal.
When punished by the gods, the outsider dies.
Yes.
This.
Just how great the gods were.
During the short time observing the outsider, she saw a being who, contrary to their own words, was an immature child, and above all, the outsider claimed to be human.
A human that could never touch the gods.
So she lowered her guard.
While Hyungkesuni joyfully imagined the outsider’s pitiable demise, a colossal gallows started being erected in the square in front of the castle.
In that moment, a person with purple hair came to meet the outsider.
She came forward and asked,
“If you go like this, what will happen to my blessing?”
For dreadfully selfish reasons.
They were worried that the youth and health they had just acquired might vanish in an instant.
But the outsider didn’t chastise them.
Instead, they replied,
“If I disappear, the blessing won’t vanish. That’s not the guarantee. It’s simply because I wanted to give it. Originally, blessings can be bad.”
At the outsider’s words, the person with purple hair’s heart skipped a beat, while those who had been eavesdropping mocked the blessed individual.
The blessed person, surprised, asked in return,
“What do you mean bad?”
But the outsider didn’t provide the answer many hoped for. Instead, they meticulously articulated to undermine the idea of the gods.
“Just as a child leaves their parents’ embrace, one day humankind will step out from the shadows of the gods and stand alone. The blessing is a gift too excessive. But I wanted to give it.”
They didn’t deny the gods.
They suggested that one day, humanity could rise to an exalted place similar to the gods.
The outsider’s words seemed devoid of any ill intent, as if they didn’t harbor any hatred.
The outsider had no intentions to replace the Seongsin.
Instead, they sought to plant a thought. This was also the foundation of an enlightenment that would free humanity from the shadow of the gods.
No one truly understood those words yet.
Not yet.
But they left something behind for those who were listening.
As the outsider sowed seeds, they moved towards the place where they hoped to die, wishing for them to sprout one day.
